challenger

Glasgow Print Studio Ground Floor Gallery Exhibition runs:6-30 October 2017 The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. -jacques cousteau A house by the sea – a son with an interest in marine biology – a television documentary featuring the Challenger Expedition (1873–76) – a conversation with SAMS…

NASA built six Space Shuttles, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft. Enterprise was used only for flight tests. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour were used to launch satellites, conduct science experiments in orbit and service the International Space Station. 135 missions were flown between 1981 and 2011. Challenger and Columbia were both destroyed in mission…

Maritime expeditions in the Age of Enlightenment were motivated mainly by scientific curiosity. HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth in 1872 to investigate the natural history and geology of the ocean floor. Challenger circumnavigated the globe for three and half years, covering almost 70,000 nautical miles. The crew dredged up thousands of samples and mapped…

The Challenger Expedition followed in the footsteps of many other maritime expeditions. This image features a map from the Challenger Report, showing the routes taken by the prinicpal expeditions, from the first voyage of Captain Cook through to the Challenger Expedition. Cyanotype Varied edition: 10 prints

Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the Earth’s seabed hydrosphere, with a depth of about 11,000 metres. It is found at the southern end of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. It is named after HMS Challenger, whose crew made the first measurements of its depth. Only four vehicles have descended into…

Screenprint Varied edition: 13 prints c. 20x40cm “The attention of navigators was fully taken up with the perfecting of their science, the development of nautical astronomy, the study of the forces which control the magnetic needle, the discovery of the longitude, the search for new lands and new routes.” -Narrative of the Cruise of HMS…

Cyanotype Varied edition: 30 prints “The attention of navigators was fully taken up with the perfecting of their science, the development of nautical astronomy, the study of the forces which control the magnetic needle, the discovery of the longitude, the search for new lands and new routes.” -Narrative of the Cruise of HMS Challenger

Challenger (hardback) An exploration By Alice Strange Book Preview “The vast ocean lay scientifically unexplored All the efforts of the previous decade had been directed to the strips of water around the coast and to enclosed or partially enclosed seas; great things had certainly been done there, but as certainly far greater things remained to…

The artworks inspired by HMS Challenger’s Expedition of 1873-76 are currently on show at the Scottish Association of Marine Science in Dunbeg. These works acknowledge and celebrate the courage, determination and achievements of those who explore the unknown to give us a better understanding of our world and ourselves. Viewing by appointment only – please…

The Scottish Association of Marine Science – SAMS – celebrated its 130 year anniversary on 14 November, 2014. The event included talks, short films, and featured an exhibition of my HMS Challenger-themed works.

“Abyss” is from the Greek word ἄβυσσος, meaning bottomless. The abyssal zone of the oceans – 4-6 km – is perpetually dark and cold and silent. Inhabitants, such as the deep-sea anglerfish and the giant squid, must withstand immense pressure. The deepest trenches in the ocean, such as the Mariana Trench in the Pacific, are…

John Murray (1841-1914), a pioneering oceanographer, was Wyville Thomson’s assistant on HMS Challenger’s 1872-76 expedition to explore the oceans. The publication of the 50 volume report of the Challenger Expedition fell largely to Murray, who completed the task in 1896. Murray had the Challenger Medal made at his own expense as a token of appreciation…

Beneath the waves there are many dominions yet to be visited and kingdoms to be discovered, and he who venturously brings up from the abyss enough of their inhabitants to display the physiognomy of the country, will taste that cup of delight, the sweetness of whose draught those only who have made a discovery know.…

Oceanographer John Murray (1841-1914), HMS Challenger, some fish illustrations and a bathymetrical chart from the Murray & Hjort book The Depths of the Ocean. The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) was founded in 1884 (as the Scottish Marine Station) by Murray. This collage was prepared to celebrate SAMS’s 130th anniversary. Digital collage

The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) was founded in 1884 (as the Scottish Marine Station) by Murray. This collage was made to celebrate SAM’s 130th anniversary. Digital collage In an address to his old school, Murray describes early experiments with electricity: “… several companions arrived from Stirling to see my experiments ; they had…

… that the moon is made of cheese. The legacy of the Challenger Expedition persists: more than a century after the expedition, NASA named a Space Shuttle after the ship. On 3 February 1984, Bruce McCandless II took the first untethered spacewalk from Space Shuttle Challenger using a Manned Maneuvering Unit, subject of an iconic photograph…

The legacy of the Challenger Expedition persists: more than a century after the expedition, NASA named a Space Shuttle after the ship. On 3 February 1984, Bruce McCandless II took the first untethered spacewalk from Space Shuttle Challenger using a Manned Maneuvering Unit, subject of an iconic photograph of an astronaut floating above the Blue Planet.…

“H.M.S. Challenger, a steam corvette, with a spar upper deck, of 2306 tons displacement, and an indicated power of 1234 horses, was chosen for this [expedition] … All the guns were removed with the exception of two, and the space which they and the stores and ammunition in connection with them had occupied, was devoted…

The legacy of the Challenger Expedition persists: more than a century after the expedition, NASA named the Apollo 17 lunar module and a Space Shuttle after the ship, and the Voyager I spacecraft, which left Earth in 1977, is travelling into interstellar space. Digital collage Limited edition: 10 prints 36x150cm

“On the 11th, at 2.50 am, the first iceberg was sighted. At 5 am sails were furled, and a sounding, trawling, and serial temperatures were taken in 1260 fathoms, Diatom ooze, Station 152. Up to the time of the Expedition, about 500 species of radiolarian had been identified. Challenger brought home more than 2,000 new…

In investigating the strength and direction of the ocean currents, such as the Gulf Stream, when out of sight of land or unable to anchor a boat, observations of the heavenly bodies are the only resource … Digital collage Limited edition: 10 prints 36x150cm “The ship remained at Halifax from the 9th to the 19th…

“The vast ocean lay scientifically unexplored All the efforts of the previous decade had been directed to the strips of water around the coast and to enclosed or partially enclosed seas; great things had certainly been done there, but as certainly far greater things remained to be done beyond. This consideration led to the conception…

“The morning after the Expedition arrived trade went on briskly, the canoes crowding around the ship, and the natives handing their weapons and ornaments through the main deck ports. The barter given in exchange was principally ordinary hoop iron broken up into pieces about 6 inches in length; but a great deal of so-called “trade…

At each sampling station, the crew determined the depth, measured temperature, trawled and dredged for samples at various depths between the surface and the sea floor. On 31 January 1873, at a depth of 2150 fathoms, a new member of the Pennatulida family was dredged up – the phosphorescent Umbellula thomsonii. Digital collage Limited edition:…

The Royal Navy ship HMS Challenger was a three-masted corvette with an auxiliary steam engine. The ship was modified for scientific work, with laboratories for natural history and chemistry. Digital collage Limited edition: 10 prints 36x150cm

The Challenger Expedition built on the work of the many philosophers, explorers and scientists who, in the past, had tried to understand the ocean. On the shoulders of giants features the crew of HMS Challenger, with the names of some of the people and ships that went before them. Digital collage Limited edition: 10 prints…

“Challenger left Santa Cruz, Tenerife, on the evening of the 14th February. The weather was bright and pleasant, with a light breeze from the northeast. A southwesterly course was pursued for a few days, until well within the northern limit of the trade wind, after which the route followed was, as nearly as practicable, in…

The Challenger Expedition of 1872–76 laid the foundations of the academic discipline of oceanography. The Royal Navy ship HMS Challenger was modified for scientific work, with laboratories for natural history and chemistry. The ship sailed from Portsmouth, England, on 21 December 1872 and travelled nearly 70,000 nautical miles over four years, surveying and exploring. The…